50 years of hip-hop: A genre born from a backyard party

By Juana Summers

Published August 5, 2023 at 6:02 PM EDT

DJ Kool Herc appears at The Source Awards held at the Paramount Theater at Madison Square Garden on April 25, 1994 in New York City.

Fifty years ago this month, some teenagers threw a back-to-school party in the Bronx. Today that party is considered by many "the birth of hip-hop."

Juana Summers

Juana Summers is a co-host of NPR's All Things Considered, alongside Ailsa Chang, Ari Shapiro and Mary Louise Kelly. She joined All Things Considered in June 2022.

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